This article may be interesting to those devotees and ex-devotees of Sai
Baba who would like to get a more comprehensive view of the Sai Organisation. An
objective analysis of the Sai Organisation can reveal very unexpected things
about the Organisation itself and Sai Baba as well. Within the Sai Organisation
we often hear a key word “unity”. So when we read Sai Baba’s words: “If
all members are brothers, how can we have different rules for America, Japan or
Germany?... The rule should be applicable to all members - whether they are
Indians or non-Indians, in India or elsewhere.” (22.11.1980. Sathya Sai Speaks
v. XIV, p.357), we understand it as a direct instruction for the Sai
Organisation. Nevertheless the reality is different. In spite of the apparent
oneness of the Sai Organisation, in fact, it contains two essentially different
parts (Indian and Overseas), which follow different Charters and Rules and
Regulations.

Below we present a comparative analysis of the Charter and Rules and
Regulations for Indian and Overseas parts as they are fixed in the corresponding
documents. For the Indian part it is “Rules and Regulations for Sri Sathya Sai
Seva Organisations, India”, published soon after 6th World Conference (1995).
For the Overseas part we have used a brochure under a title “Charter of the
Sathya Sai Organisation and Rules and Regulations (For Overseas Countries)”.
Unfortunately, the brochure is not dated. Further we will refer to them as to
“Indian version” and “Overseas version” correspondingly.

It is worthy to mention here that the Charter is supposed to be an
unchangeable part though Rules and Regulations can be changed from time to time.
Introduction for the Indian version written by the All India President reads:
“Almost after every major conference the Rules and Regulations (Manual of the
Organisation) undergo modifications some major, some minor...”. It is stated
in the introduction that the current version is considered to be valid until
next global conference and members are encouraged to send their proposals how to
improve functioning of the Sai Organisation.

1. The Name of the Organisation.

From the above-mentioned sources it can be easily seen that the Indian
and Overseas versions use different names for the Organisation: “Sri Sathya
Sai Seva Organisations” and “Sathya Sai Organisation” correspondingly. In
official documents of the Organisation we can find other versions of the name.
For example:

It is clear that there is no agreement about the name of the Organisation
though 36 years have passed since its inception in 1965 and 20 years after the
Charter was granted by Bhagawan Baba in 1981.

2. Content of the Charter.

It may sound strange but the texts of the Charter in the Indian and
Overseas versions are different. In a chart below you can see the difference in
the order and the content of sections (some titles are given by the author and
are not in the original):

Overseas
version

Indian
version

(1)
The Preamble, The Declaration;

(1)
the Charter (it corresponds in content to the Preamble and the Declaration
of the Overseas version);

(2)
The Code of Conduct;

(2)
The Code of Conduct;

(3)
General Principles;

(3)
General Principles;

(4)
Objectives of the Sai Organisation;

(4)
The Structure of the Organisation;

(5)
Activities of the Organisation;

(5)
Practice of Sadhana by Bhaktas;

(6)
The Structure of the Organisation.

(6)
Inner Significance and Objectives of Activities.

This obvious difference seems even stranger as both Indian and Overseas
versions have the same opening words: “Permanent Charter granted by Bhagawan
Sri Sathya Sai Baba to the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation, at the Third World
Conference, dated 14th day of January, in the 55th year of His Advent, Anno
Domini 1981.” A logical question arises: which of two texts was actually
granted by Bhagawan Baba?

3. The Structure of the Organisation.

Whereas in the Indian version this section describes the structure from
the level of the All India President down to the centres (“Samithi” in the
Indian version) and groups, in the Overseas version this section describes
so-called the Central Organisation comprising the Central Office, the All India
President and the International Chairman. According to the Overseas version, it
is this body that makes rules and regulations for the whole Organisation.
However, it is left completely unclear what the Central Office is, its staff,
tenure, etc. In the Indian version the Central Office is shown on the chart of
the structure of the Organisation, but mentioned nowhere in the text. The
Central Office is the only body common to both Indian and Overseas parts. From
the level of the All India President for the Indian part and International
Chairman for the Overseas part both Indian and Overseas parts have their own
structure and hierarchy.

The structures of the Indian and Overseas parts differ in a respect that
Indian part doesn’t mention any collective bodies like Coordination Committees
or Central Councils of the Overseas version. Instead of this there is a strict
hierarchy from top to bottom: centre president (“Samithi convenor” in the
Indian version) - state coordinator - state president - zonal coordinator/all
India coordinator - All India president.

Another interesting feature of the Indian part of the Sai Organisation is
the existence of a special separate structure for women members. It is called
Mahila Vibhag and consists only of women. Women belonging to Mahila Vibhag deal
mostly with educational activities and at the same time take part in other
activities of the centre (Samithi). They have their own coordinators on the
state level according to the 3 kinds of activities in the Sai Organisation
(educational, devotional and service) and report directly to a state president.

4. Office Bearers.

According to the Indian version, all office bearers are appointed from
above. The State President appoints all office bearers from the level of state
down to the level of centres and groups. At the same time, according to the
Overseas version from the level of centres and groups there are elections (they
are called “selections” in the text) by consensus up to the level of the
Chairman of the Central Council, which is appointed from above. So, starting
with the Chairman of the Central Council, we have office bearers who are not
elected and not accountable to the lower levels of the Organisation.

Significant differences between two versions concern the tenure of office
bearers and their reselection. The Indian version reads that the All- India
President, National and Zonal Coordinators “shall hold office during the
pleasure of Bhagawan Baba”. For office bearers of lower level the tenure is 2
years with further re-nomination. In the Overseas version all office bearers
from the level of central coordinators down hold their offices for a period of 2
years and can be re-nominated only one more period of 2 years. It is an
interesting fact that the Indian version doesn’t give any limitations on the
consequent re-nomination of office bearers, but at the same time mentions that
office bearers can’t hold office in more than one unit of the Organisation or
in any other religious or spiritual organisation. This is a point which is
omitted in the Overseas version.

5. The Status of Members.

The Rules and Regulations of the Indian and Overseas versions contain a
lot of differences. For example, the membership. Below are the quotations
concerning enrolment and status of the Sai Organisation members.

The Indian version: “Any person who is a spiritual aspirant, has faith
in the teaching of Bhagawan Baba, and who signs a declaration that he is
willing to abide by the 9-point Code of Conduct and the rules of the
Organisation in force will be treated as a Member. Members who participate in
the activities of the Organisation shall be treated as “Workers”.”

The Overseas version: “Any person who is a spiritual aspirant, has
faith in the teaching of Bhagawan Baba, and who is willing to abide by the
9-point Code of Conduct and the rules and regulations of the Organisation
in force will be treated as a Member. Such of the members as are in a
position to devote at least four hours a week to activities of the Organisation
shall be treated as Active Workers.”

6. World Conferences.

World Conferences, which are held by the Sai Organisation every 5 years
and considered to be most important events in the Sai Organisation life, are not
mentioned at all neither in the Indian version, nor in the Overseas one. It
means that those conferences cannot be legal collective bodies of the Sai
Organisation and cannot pass any authoritative resolutions on behalf of the
Organisation. Rather they are a sort of a forums for exchanging views and ideas.
According to the Charters, the only authoritative resolutions for the Sai
Organisation are directives and guidelines of the Central Organisation (the
Central Office, the All India President and the International Chairman).

Conclusions.

(1) Such significant discrepancies in the Indian and Overseas versions of
the main documents of the Sai Organisation lead to the conclusion that the Sai
Organisation should not be considered as a united body, but rather as two
clearly distinct bodies under the common managing body.

(2) The vague structure and unclear places of both Indian and Overseas
Charters and Rules and Regulations sections hardly make these documents
appropriate for any legal registration.

(3) It is known that the text (texts?) of the Charter has been considered
several times for possible improvements and modifications. However, it seems
that the text of the Overseas version has not undergone any serious
modifications. Even the establishment of the “youth wing” in 1997 and
division of the Overseas part into zones (1999?) with subsequent introduction of
the Zonal Coordinator position has not so far led to any modification of the
Charter and Rules and Regulations.

(4) The leaders of the Sai Organisation often refer to Sai Baba’ s
words about the significance of the Sai Organisation and its role in a future
spiritual revival of the humanity. The Sai Organisation is expected by its
members to become a model and an integral part of the human society and to exist
for many centuries. (Sai Baba: “The whole world itself will be transformed
into Sathya Sai Organisation and Sathya Sai will be installed in the hearts of
one and all.” 20.11.1998, Sanathana Sarathi v.42, #1, p.21) However, the
Sai Organisation is so strongly focused (from the point of view of its policy
and ideology) on its charismatic leader, Sathya Sai Baba, that after Sai Baba
leaves this physical realm, it will inevitably face a great shock and those
Charters and Rules and Regulations, as they exist now, can hardly be a basis for
the Sai Organisation unity and for its effective and smooth functioning.